


spam mail

by orphan_account



Category: The Hollow (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Artificial Intelligence, Cyberpunk, DON’T READ IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN S2, Identity Issues, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Virtual Clones, Virtual Reality, adam... 2!, i’m writing this RIGHT after a full night binge watch, so major spoilers ahead, unreality
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-08
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:20:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24072832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: i can’t believe they censored radiohead’s creep. let weirdie say “fuck”, he deserves to say fuck ( au fanfic set after hollow s2; starts slow )
Relationships: adam’s gay that’s it
Comments: 12
Kudos: 79





	1. hey, kid

**To** : ‘Digi-Adam’

 **Subject** : fun facts

—

Hope this is working... 

Hey! It’s me, Gustaf or “Weirdie” — I never mentioned it, since y’know, I _was_ on the clock & stuff, but “Weirdie” is a good one, A+ there; definitely my _favorite_ out of all the nicknames contestants have come up for me!

There was this one batch of r-uUude kids a few games ago that called m — oh huh, this speech-to-text program actually typed out my vocal-fluctuations. N-ea-t.

I’m in the middle of letting some nail polish dry here so I can’t type, but — **RIGHT** , got off track there, sorry, ehMcm.

So, uh... Adam, this letter’s e-specially for you-who.

I mean, you _can_ show it to your friends, ‘cause hey: no stopping you, and you probably would show ‘em it even if I said “no, nuh-uh” since you’re just... _Christ_.

I’m **so** sorry for a **lot** of icky things out of your guys’ control. I hope you’re doing okay in there, kiddo.

I... Didn’t get enough time to really tell you everything, either.

I know, I _know_ , you can give me an earful about STILL being cryptic & creepy in as many future emails as you want, but hear me out here.

You kinda have to since you’re reading this, but you can always **stop** reading this or —

Okay, focus, **focusing.**

First off: I’m your _brother_ , yee-up, just gonna drop THAT bombshell plot twist on you. BAM!

You can’t tell, but I’m finger-gunning the computer and it looks dumb. Glad Adam number uno isn’t home right now.

You’re probably ABUZZ with questions.

Lemme go ahead, save you the trouble, and guess what they might be:

”Why doesn’t my virtual family have you in it, though? Why don’t I remember you? How are we brothers? Why are you so much older? Why are you so funny & charismatic?”

Well, Digi-Adam — can I call you that? I’m gonna call you that, Digi-Adam.

... It’s a long story, shocker, but don’t worry!

I’ve got pl- **ee** -nty of time to tell you it! Turns out, a guy’s schedule rEAlly gets freed up when he, ha, uh, gets put under... House arrest for a ‘couple of weeks after violating a shady company’s terms & conditions.

Eh, don’t worry about it. I’m not!

I am a little worried about the word count on this getting smaller, though.

Sure, we can make immersive, VR worlds and technology that temporarily suppresses your memory, but we can’t extend the word count just a LITTLE teensy bit on emails?

Cyberpunk dystopians, am I right?

... Oh, yeah, you probably don’t know about _that_ fat stinger either. 

Well, look, give me a ‘couple more letters and you’ll hear it all, Digi-Adam. Alright, send.

Send, send it, I — for fu

—


	2. uno

**1**

**–**

Gustaf’s bedroom was, as Adam would put it, a complete and utter ~~fucking~~ mess. 

It was 90% clothes tossed on everything & anywhere, and then 10% actual living space. Like the bed you can _kinda_ see underneath all the pants & shirts covering it. 

He’s tried to nudge the guy about it before, but Gustaf’d just shoot back “it’s a SYSTEM” and then boot Adam outta there, like usual. 

Not to say they had a _bad_ relationship — far from it, Gustaf was as good of a foster brother a guy could hope for, period — the guy’s just always been weirdly finicky about his room.

Come to think of it, Adam can’t really remember a time Gust’ _wasn’t_ rescuing him from annoying schoolyard bullies _or_ working his ass off to make sure Adam actually got some food on his plate that night; their foster parents sure didn’t care about that stuff.

Wonder if he’s so protective over his room ‘cause it’s the one ( one ) space the guy has to unwind; he can finally drop all the façades behind closed doors. Makes ya think.

Anyways, point is: Gustaf’s not a fan of folks nosing around his room and **touching** things, as good of a bro he is, but... Adam’s been having these weird ‘inklings’ ever since he came back home. 

Inklings about “The Hollow” that make you wanna snoop through your brother’s closet and get knees deep into his scarf collection looking for his old VR headset. 

“C’mon, I **know** you’ve still got it.” Gustaf wouldn’t have trashed it, too many memories.

Before he wound up hosting the Hollow games, him & Adam used to be a _pretty_ good duo in multiplayer games way back when.

You name it: Super Smash Bros. X ( ten games in but they **still** haven’t made Waluigi playable ), Overwatch 4, TwelthDay, SA2’s 2p competitive scene ( wild, but true ), Minecraft Hunger Games, and the list goes on. 

Gustaf’s **the** guy that helped get him into competitive gaming — made him wanna strive to be an Esports big wig, maybe even win a Hollow game...

God, Adam stops digging through the fourth box of junk & misc. shoes in here to sigh loudly.

“This all started because of **me** wanting to win that _stupid_ game...” He _lost_ a friend, but gained a ( sorta ) new one, got kissed by Mira on accident, nearly game over’d in-game, and then he got some... Lingering side-effects from The Hollow as the cherry on the top. 

_“Good, that’s karma.”_ He can almost hear Reeve, but for once: Adam’d agree with him.

All this for a dumb trophy too, and — Oh wait, ‘broody reflecting over past mistakes time’ is prematurely cancelled, because Adam just heard the front door opening. Shit. 

Fuck, fuck, fuck — Adam quickly tosses all the surrounding junk & clothes back into their respected boxes, hauling his ass out of the closet ( ha ) _and_ Gustaf’s room. 

“H-e-lloooo! Adam! It’s me, a SERIAL KILLER come to claim his **latest victim**!” 

“Cool,” Adam nonchalantly calls back. Gust’s been doing his serial killer bit since Adam was, what, six? “We’ve got hot pockets in the freezer. Help yourself.”

Adam puts on his best “I totally wasn’t snooping in your room” face as he hops down their apartment’s cramped staircase — hey, living in a two-floor apartment _sounds_ cool on paper, until you realize that just means they SMOOSH everything up and _then_ charge you extra for stuff ( finger snap ). Capitalism is hell!

“How’d the gam — whoa, uh, what’s with the house arrest ankle-bracelet. New look?”

”Y-eeee-ah,” Gustaf slides off his glasses and snaps them shut, pocketing them. Never good a sign. “About that, kiddo.” Wow! More red flags!

Woof, he’s even using one of his “this is _super_ serious bad news, Adam” looks.

“... Do you want the short, easy, ‘ask no questions and we’ll not mention the ankle bracelet that’ll start being electrified in... Mmm, the next 5 minutes’ story,” Gustaf twirls his finger around in the air, articulating his words with it — the guy speaks with his hands — while the other hand’s pocketed. “Or the long, extremely boring, and INCREDIBLY disconcerting story filled with legal issues & questionable practices.”

“The _long_ one,” Adam squints. “What happened? ... Did you break game rules?”

“Hoo boy,” Big, exhausted sigh from weirdo. Gust’ snaps his fingers. “Pull up a chair then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> their apartment’s simultaneously nice, but also kinda shitty; gustaf makes Just enough for them to have a decent place, but not enough for an actual house or even a better apartment.


	3. dos

**2**

**—**

Adam sat on his bed — should he even keep going by that name, actually?

He **is** Adam, _an_ Adam, anyways, but... He’s definitely been considering changing it lately; maybe just try something different out, for fun.

Adam ( new name wip ) mulls over this while sat on his bed, leaning against his pillows that’ve been messily piled-up behind him.

He stares out the nearby window, his thoughts adrift; head full, many thoughts.  
  
 _Nice day today, but when isn’t it._

”What do you think, Puddles?” Adam^2 prods ole’ Puddles, who’s curled-up at the bed’s end, with his foot. “You think I’m more of an ‘Alex’ guy or maybe, uh... ‘Adrien’?”

Puddles only wags his tail in-response. Not much else a dog can really say on the matter.

”Yeah, you’re right: not very creative. Maybe I should think outside of just A-names, huh.”

AI-dam ( mm, nah ) looks towards his ceiling fan then, laying his hands flat against his chest while watchin’ the fan’s blades go ‘round & listening to his heart beat. 

... It’s weird, everything around him is still virtual even if he’s self-aware, but whenever he lays super still — just taking in even breaths, Adam can swear he feels the air filling up his lungs.

He _hates_ knowing. He’s tried to get over it, tried to tell himself it’s okay — he’s still “real” and so’s this world, in a way, but Adam knows deep-down he’s just computer code that was never meant to be sentient.

A digital copy of an existing life.

What was that one Greek tragedy again? Oedipus? Where he ruined his life & others’ by chasing after the truth. Minus the mom-marrying part, that’s a good comparison, Adam thinks.

Of course, Adam reasons with himself, he wouldn’t have felt any better _not_ knowing what was up, either.

He would’ve still felt scared and wanna high-tail it out of here, but at least back then he still thought he had a home outside all this. 

He still thought he was the **real** Adam.

“Huh — ” Just then, snapping him out of his existential dread, Adam hears his laptop _ding_.

Probably just Kai or maybe Reeve — they’ve been talking more, in a non-arguing way for once — so Adam doesn’t immediately go to answer it, but eventually he does slide off the bedside and hop onto his desk’s swivel-chair. 

_Click, click._

Wait. “Gustaf?” Wow, he wasn’t expecting to hear from him again, but guess Weirdie bothered saving the server’s IP address and actually got an email through.

That’s... Surprisingly thoughtful of Gustaf, but then again, guess his “snarky tv host with creepy clown vibes” act was just that: an act.

He’s a moderator for the Games after all, so why wouldn’t somebody wanna have fun with that? 

He _did_ help save their butts too, in-spite of whatever repercussions the guy’s dealing with right now, so seems not _every_ celeb’s a dick.

Adam scrolls down s’more to re — What. 

**What**.

—

 **To** : Weirdy

 **Subject** : Hey, what.

I do have a lot of questions, and then some on top of the ones I’ve **already** had.

I’ve got no memory of us being brothers, so we can start there.

Respond whenever. I’ll be around.

Digi-Adam’s really bad, by the way. Maybe workshop that one, “bro”.

—

Adam exhales, clicks send, and then... Stares down at his desk, head in his hands.

Can’t even run off to a life-sim world to escape another twist getting thrown in his face. _Thanks, universe._

A voice back in his head speaks up then.

 _He’s not really **your** brother, if that helps._

_No, it doesn’t, but thanks also, brain._

Before he can mull over **more** identity issues, his laptop _dings_ again and, huh, looks like Gustaf didn’t wanna keep him waiting.

Adam quickly clicks on the email notification’s icon and digs right into this. 

”’Meet me at Hollow Games HQ’... ?” Skim, skim. “... Yeah, sure, why not.” 

Adam, new-name- **still** -being-considered, slams his laptop shut and slides it into his backpack. He slings his ‘pack over his shoulders and hurries out the door in a storm, ignoring his mom calling out to him.

Puddles raises his head, ears perked, but winds up only yawning and then nestling back down. 

“C’mon, c’mon —“ Adam can _barely_ dial Mira’s number while scurrying down the stairs. Right when she picks up, he’s shoved open the front door.

“Hey, Mira? Meet me at Kai’s. We gotta talk.” 


	4. i hope that security guard’s doing okay

**2**

**–**

**To** : You-Adam

 **Subject** : let’s just rip off the band-aid

—

Did’ja jaw hit the floor? It must’ve.

Okay, okay, that’s mean, but I gotta squeeze in some teasing, kiddo. Sprinkle in that _smarm_.

How about I make it up to you by cutting to the chase and explaining stuff in-person, huh?

Meet me at Hollow Games HQ! I’ll dig out my dusty VR headset & get plugged in.

Don’t be late! I’ll have to set-up a whole new game avatar — can’t use my usual one, so you **better** not keep me waiting when I’m putting _this_ much work into arranging all this.

— 

“So, you gonna go talk to him?” Kai asked while leaning back against the gazebo’s rails. 

“Yeah.” Adam said, closing his laptop and sliding it back inside his bag. In hindsight, he didn’t _have_ to bring his entire laptop — could’ve used the email app on his phone, but he got caught up in the moment.

“Alone?” Mira raised an eyebrow.

”... Uh,” Dang, she saw right through him. Adam totally was gonna bolt down there and shake Weirdy for answers, oop. “ ...Was considering it.” 

“Hey, he did help save us, so it’s not like Gustaf’s dangerous.” Kai added. “What’s the worst he could even do, anyways?” He snorts. “Choke Adam to death with his _f-AaA-ncy_ scarf?” 

“I’unno,” Mira puts on her signature, doubtful look & folds her arms. “How do you know it’s even Gustaf? Maybe it’s just someone from Hollow Games _pretending_ to be Gustaf to lure Adam out?”

Kai chuckles again. “What would a bunch of stuffy ceos want with a ‘couple sentient AIs —“ 

“ _Don’t call us that._ ” Adam abruptly cuts Kai off, a little too harshly too. Whoops. “Sorry, I mean, Kai’s got a point: why _would_ they bother with us? We’re on a private server and we aren’t trying to escape.”

“Yeah!” Kai, oddly, brushes off Adam suddenly snapping at him, and peeps back up. “We basically did a corporate cover-up _for_ them, for free!”

“No, stop, we aren’t doing this **again**.” Mira stands up and throws out her arms.

“Instead of us arguing over who we can & can’t trust, or,” Mira sighs & looks off to the side for a second. “... _One_ of us charging head in, we go _together,_ as a team, and face whoever’s or whatever’s gonna be waiting for us there!”

Silence.

“Mira’s right.” Adam’s the next to stand.

Man, Adam knows he doesn’t say it enough but, he’s really thankful for Mira — she’s got the braincells here and that’s why they were teammates in the first place, but it’s _gotta_ be tiring to always have to defuse a situation.

“Gustaf or no Gustaf, I promised we’d stick together from here out so let’s _all three_ go confront this.” He smacks his fist on his palm... And a little too hard actually, ouch. 

“Wait, question?” Kai raises a finger and waves it around in the air.

”Yeah, Kai?” Adam glances back down at him. 

”Can _I_ ride on Mira’s scooter this time? It’s just **really** awesome and when she did that _Akira-y_ drift back at the donut shop? _So cool_.”

”Thanks,” She chuckles, her previous bravo fading, now slightly embarrassed after being outed as a nerd. “I... Totally didn’t learn how to ride a scooter _just_ so I could do that _.”_

 _“_ When we get back from investigating this whole ‘Adam’s surprise secret brother’ mystery, can we all watch _Akira_? I’ve got the movie on DVD, in _crisp quality_ , plus a **giant** TV!” Finger snap. Kai’s definitely hyped over this. 

“You haven’t really lived ‘til you’ve watched Tetsuo _burst_ into gross guts in HD.” He says, a little _too_ enthusiastic over high-definition gore.

“Priorities, dude.” That gets a laugh out of Adam. He’s not really surprised Kai’s into anime. “But sure, we can even grab snacks on the way back.” _If we come back._

“Yesss!” Kai fist pumps the air, jumping up and making a break for Mira’s parked scooter. “Let’s goooo, guys! If we hurry, we can still get some fresh & hot morning donuts!” 

* * *

The drive out here isn’t nearly as long as it was last time. Then again, maybe it only _felt_ long ‘cause of all the tension weighing on their shoulders during that.

Oh, and they did head there on-foot last time, so gotta factor that in, too. 

Still, Adam’s glad he doesn’t have to worry about Mira being in trouble ‘cause she’s right ahead of him this time + Kai who’s been gripping onto Mira for dear life the entire ride.

This whole “sticking together” thing is already _waaaay_ better than splitting up ever was, wow. 

“Is anybody else getting chills?” Kai’s naturally the first one to speak up when they arrive at Hollow HQ. “Like, us being back here & stuff feels weird to you guys too, right?” Kai said, gesturing towards the massive building looming over ‘em. 

”The only thing _I’m_ getting ‘chills’ over is remembering cutting my hands on broken _glass_.” Mira shoots back while taking off her helmet & kicking out the kickstand. 

“Thanks for smashing that window, by the way.” Adam added, stepping off Kai’s circ-board — he’s never gotten to ride one ’til now, but they’re _surprisingly_ easy to handle — and props it against Mira’s scooter. “We couldn’t have gotten past the secu —“ 

“Ay! You two twerps again?!” Speaking of her, the same security guard from last time stomped towards them. “Didn’t I tell you two to **no trespassing**! You come back to take _selfies_ at that window you broke with your other friend here or somethin’?” 

“Sorry —“ Mira butts in. “They’re only back because we were... All told to meet somebody here! Right, Adam?” She kicks his leg.

“Oh! Uh, y-yeah, my _brother_ works here. He wanted to see me & my friends after... School real quick, that’s all.” He’s never been great at lying.

“So can we go in?” Kai slides his way into the conversation. 

“You kids are worse liars than _my ex_.” She huffs out. “I don’t wanna get fired from _this_ job too, so scram before I call the **actual** cops!”

”No, please, we’re telling the truth!” Mira waves her hands. “Adam! Get out your phone and show her Gustaf’s emai —“ 

“Nuh-uh, I’ve been manipulated & gaslit enough to spot when somebody’s trying to pull a fast one on me! Get out of here! That’s my **last** warning, you thr —“ 

“H-eee-y, Lucy! Somethin’ up out here, gal?” An unmistakable voice calls out from afar. 

“O-Oh, Mr. Kirchhoff, sir.” Lucy ( apparently ) straightens up immediately and coughs into her fist. “I was about to escort these teens off the premises.” She adjusts her ‘cap. “Sorry for any alarm, sir.”

The trio whips their heads around to catch a noticeably less blue-skinned Weirdy walking towards them.

His outfit’s _significantly_ less fancy too and he might be missing his signature ‘shades, but Weirdy’s avatar has got the same, general outline to it; same weird body-type, same weird mannerisms.

“Gustaf!” Adam & Mira yell simultaneously. 

“Whoa...” Kai ooo’s in awe. “... Weirdy kinda looks _weirder_ without blue skin, y’know. Just me?”


	5. server admin perks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW, been gone for awhile! i’ve had this in the drafts for ages, but just took a break. i’ll try & get back to posting more actively. here’s a long-ish chapter, though, to make up for the wait.

**1**

**—**

”Woof, you’re really caked in dust, aren’t ‘cha, old gal?” Gustaf mumbles to himself as he opens up a shoe box that’s _barely_ holding itself together; it’s got scotch tape slapped all over it.

“Hey, no worries, I’d say you’ve aged like a _fine wine._ ” Flirting with a shoe box. New low. 

What Weirdy pulls out of it — after kicking up _another_ mini dust cloud & getting sent into a coughing fit — is his trusty, and now-obsolete, VR headset.

This thing came out back in _2026_ , so about nine years & counting ago, and it’s definitely an ancient relic of its time. Remember when VR headsets actually needed _controllers?_ Wow, wild.

Just _looking_ at it instantly slams Gustaf back in time to his late ‘teens, loitering around and waiting for the “latest” headset to drop at its midnight release.

Haha yeah, and him & Adam had been squeezed in that _huge_ line of tents since yesterday. They had binged all the _Shrek_ movies during that wait. 

Good times, _good times._

Anyways! Time to dance-hop over to his desk’s chair and get settled in, baby.

He haphazardly tosses aside the shoe box and _sets_ the headset on his lap.

Gust’s already _dying_ to clean it up — he’s no clean freak, but dust has a **bad** texture to it, bluh — but, c’mon, make sure it _works_ first, then pop in, wave ‘hi’ to the kids, yadda, yadda, and THEN you can clean it.

His computer’s a custom-build, too ( a _Gustaf originalé!_ Built it himself ), so it‘s got all the necessary ports for his headset’s cords to plug into.

Gustaf manages to get everything connected in less than a second. No error messages here. ✨

‘Course, nothing’s ever _that_ easy. This ‘set’s _still_ old, but thank god he’s not just another pretty face; he can figure this out in a snap.

Charm’s only _half_ the job of hosting the games. You’ve gotta be a wiz’ with computers & code to moderate things, plus: be _likable_.

The Games really _wouldn’t_ be the same without him, hence the house arrest bracelet ( that’s **really** starting to chafe his ankle ) instead of hard jail time. They can’t easily replace him! 

Worst he got was a slap on the wrist and a ‘couple weeks off. Haha, _suckers_.

So, a few keyboard clacks later and, woo, there! Step one is done-o. _Moving on..._

Step two, o-kay, Gust’ fishes his USB with _Hollow Life_ burnt & stuffed inside it out of his sweatpants’ non-sweaty pocket.

“Hey, kids...” His voice’s barely above a hushed whisper as he looks over the faux-key.

USBs are also _old news_ , but he always keeps a ‘couple on-hand out of habit. You never know when you wanna snatch data from folks!

Right before he jams in the USB, Gust’ pauses to reflect ( for the 50th time ) over how five digital teenagers + their whole wide world are now all squeezed in this cute, key-shaped USB he impulse-bought off _Amazon_ a month ago at 4 AM.

_Yeesh._

Gustaf’s _more_ than accustomed to being the “big brother” of friend groups — lord knows he spent his own ‘teen years looking after Adam since their foster folks didn’t wanna, but Gust’ll go ahead & bite here: maybe he’s gotten a _little_ in over his head this time. 

What else was he supposed to do, though? Let a digital-clone of Adam & his friends, who were all _begging_ him to save them, just die?

No, no, of _course_ not, but... _Shit, Gust’._

... He’s stalling. _You’re stalling._

That kid’s expecting him to show — maybe his other friends are waiting for him too, so time to get this shaky show on the road.

Gustaf pops the USB in and, after a short download, the launcher for _Hollow Life_ pops up. 

* * *

**2**

**—**

”’Moderator area’?” Adam cocks an eyebrow.

“Like an area in an online game only mods can get into!” Kai’s fast to answer him. “Think of it as the teacher’s lounge, or a yacht club! Yacht clubs are _super_ boring, by the way.” 

Back to where things left off, after Gustaf’s explained the whole situation to Lucy, the trio’s found themselves standing in Hollow HQ’s lobby, which’s way less wrecked than last time ( not weird ) & more populated ( weird ).

”Are all these staff members... ?” Mira points at the secretary sitting behind the front desk. “Real people, or —“ 

“Nah, but you like ‘em?” Gustaf gestures towards the NPCs like they’re a new car. “I thought the whole ‘empty building’ look gave the place bad vibes, so I generated some staff!” 

“They’re still a _little_ generic, watch —“ To demonstrate, Gustaf strolls up to the front desk and props his elbow on it. “ _Samantha!_ Hey! Say, what’s your favorite color again?” 

“Did you know? You can connect your jumps to pull off a triple jump!” Samantha happily replies. “Try it out some time to get the ‘leg up’ on others!”

Sensing it before he even asks or, worse, attempts it, Adam & Mira both put a hand on Kai’s shoulders and shake their heads.

“Thanks, _Sammy!_ Say hi to the wife for me.” Gust’ waves, getting a giggle out of Sam, and heads back over to the trio.

”Oh, wait,” Kai piques back up, ready to info-dump. “That’s why Lucy knew you! You programmed her to recognize you as an Admin so you’re allowed in here!”

“Bingo.” Gust’ snaps his fingers at Kai. “Glad you’re as sharp as ever, Mr. Million Bucks!” 

“Uh, I don’t mean to cut in,” Adam steps forward, just now remembering why they’re even here in the first place. “ — But, aren’t you gonna explain the whole ‘brother’ thing?” 

“OH, right,” Gust’ face palms. “I‘m _terrible_ at staying on track — awful about rambling and getting off-topic, but YEAH, yeah, _ahem_.”

“This information’s for _Adam Ears Only_ , so Adam: let’s _walk & talk_. While you two?” Gust’ jabs two things towards Mira & Kai. “Sharkgirl & Lavaboy? You park your butts a-here.”

He motions for Adam to follow and, after some shared, concerned looks between the teen trio, Adam nods & heads after Gustaf while Kai & Mira reluctantly stay behind. 

“... Can I try out a triple jump now?”

” **No** , Kai.”

***

“Truth is, Adam: _nobody_ knows we’re brothers, and that’s how it’ll _stay_.” 

“Why? Why _bother_ hiding it?” Adam says, clearly confused. “Are you guys on the lam or something? Did you _kidnap_ your Adam?” 

“No, no —“ Gustaf blows a raspberry & waves Adam off. “What? Huh? No, we’re _foster_ bros. but, well, the kid kept wanting in on the Games, and...” Gust’s voice trails off, anticipating for Adam^2 to finish his train of thought.

Adam^2 takes the bait. “— And, it’s **against** the rules for relatives, blood or not, of employees to compete. Been that way ever since —“ 

“A nobody-schmuck a few years back _ruined_ it for _everyone_ by giving his cousin pointers mid-match, so,” Gust’ heaves a sigh & rolls his eyes.

“My Adam was _devastated_ over that fiasco’s fallout, but didn’t stop _nagging_ me until I gave in & fabricated an _entire_ fake **ID codex** for him! Totally made-up a set of parents for him, and even threw in a dog!” Tongue tsk. “I really spoil that kid sometimes...”

”Wait — ‘ID codex’?” Adam^2 tilts his head and slows to a stop right next to this _really_ nice fern. “What’s that?“ Oh and great, his parents, even Bubbles, are fakes. Well, faker than they _already_ are.

_God, he’s sick of memory manipulation._

”I’m not really _surprised_ you don’t know.”

“You’re not surprised because... ?” 

“Because, _Hollow Life’s_ meant to be a ‘nostalgic trip’ to the past, so high-tech stuff’s kept to the bare minimal.“ Gust’ turns on his heels and gives Adam a look that can only be described as ‘I’m going to be exposition-y’.

“ID codexes are — They’re sort of like... Mm, an entire _archive_ of a person!”

”Oh, so it’s a library, but digital & dedicated to one person’s whole life?” Adam^2’s glad they don’t have those here. His underlying paranoia’s already bad enough, as is.

“EXACTLY! Like a library! God, you’re sharp as ever.” Gustaf’s clearly fighting the urge to ruffle Adam^2’s hair just then. The sibling energies are just _beaming_ off the guy. “It’s a big ole’ digi-space of _aaaaall_ records of a person.” 

Gust’ starts listing them off on his fingers. “We’re talking blood types, every time you’ve turned in a _doctor’s excuse_ , how much money you have AND how much you’ve _spent_ in your life, how many pets you have and _had_ , eesh, and so on!” 

“So, lemme get this straight, you made _your_ Adam a fake ‘ID codex’ —“

”Uh-huh.” 

“So he could get into _The Hollow_ —“ 

“Yep.” 

“And _Hollow Life_ must’ve copied that, so I have the **fake** codex data, like memories of my parents, but no memory of you —“

”Mhm!”

“... But, the Games read & suppress memories via the player’s eyes, so...” Adam^2’s eyes wide once realization hits him. “You put cybernetics into your Adam’s eye?!” 

”Pretty much!” Gustaf’s still nonchalant about all this, despite just admitting to squeezing a home brew cybernetic into a teen’s eye.

Fuck cops, but wow! That’s **gotta** be illegal.

Probably makes their match doubly illegitimate too since, _on-top_ of Adam^1’s faked identity now, Vanessa _also_ had her ‘memory wipe block’ going on.

 _Maybe it wasn’t just her that glitched the game, then_...

_Maybe it was **both** of them cheating that overloaded the system and glitched things._

God, Adam^2 really wants to punch his real self for this but, not like he wouldn’t have snatched the offer _too_ , once upon a time...

For some reason then, guilt starts to pool in Adam^2’s stomach. Second-hand shame, he can only guess. _Thanks, Adam^1._

“Is he... _Alright_ after all that?” Topic change, let’s get back to questions. Like, how is ~~that jerk~~ Adam number uno doing? “Your Adam.” 

”Pssh, duh!” Gust’ waves Adam^2’s question off. “Of _course_ he is! He’s back home asleep.”

**Author's Note:**

> i remember reading a fic where weirdie was adam’s older brother, so... * finger guns *


End file.
